"If we had a keen vision and feeling of all ordinary human life, it would be like hearing the grass grow and the squirrel's heart beat, and we should die of that roar which lies on the other side of silence." - from George Eliot’s Middlemarch

Disclaimer: I don’t own the X-men. I kinda own this story, so ask my permission before you archive it. Or don’t… it’s not like I’ll ever find out anyway. Really, I couldn’t care less; I just hope you enjoy it.

Summary: The Cure is only temporary. While healing Rogue and Magneto find each other and realize they have more in common than they originally thought.

Soundtrack: I recommend the song “Temptation” by The Tea Party. This one major temptation coming the way of our characters. And some one has lost all control. Another good song is “Edge of Seventeen” by Stevie Nicks. We’ll see a scene that perfectly matches that song in new Rogue and Bobby section.

Dedication: To PetiteDiable. Thank you for being such a diligent reviewer, PetiteDiable. I don’t know what I would do without my loyal readers like you; you guys keep me inspired to continue and finish Healing. You review every new chapter I send out. That’s awesome of you.

Notes: Okay forgive me. I know I have taken a long time to update. Fear not. When I got to writing Chapter 25 I had so many good ideas it grew to be over 9,000 words long unfinished with several more scenes to add. So I decided to split it up. Here’s the first chapter. It’s disjoint because I didn’t want to take away from the storyline of Chapter 26 too much. I promise Chapter 26 will be longer, at least 7,000 words.

Updates:XChocolateChipX you are so unbelievably brilliant! Your review gave me the idea I needed to fix what was wrong with this chapter. Everyone who’s reading this a second time: I added a big scene in the middle between the two main scenes in this chapter. You’ll want to read it. Rogue finally confronts Kitty and Bobby. Yup this is big stuff. Dark Dark Dark. I recommend breaking out your favorite snack food and a mixed drink with extra vodka. You’ll need it.

Chapter Twenty-Five: The Crock Pot Debacle

Logan:

It was around 9PM when he knocked on her door.

“Rogue, darlin’. You in there?” Logan said eager to finally have some private time to catch up with his estranged friend. He stood waiting outside the wooden door but the voice he heard answer him wasn’t his friend’s. It sounded like Rogue’s but not.

“Wolverine! Come in.” Curious, Logan turned the knob and opened the door.

The sight that greeted him would stay in his memory for the rest of his life. It was even more shocking than seeing Magneto kissing Rogue and it would have far more lasting consequences.

Rogue stood next to the bed, not a scrap of clothing on. She was all creamy smooth white skin, save for the dark curls between her legs. Her feet were bare, her body unadorned, her breasts displayed before her without shame. Her hair was plated behind her head and she walked with languid graceful movements. She shifted her weight back and forth from one leg to another as she approached him. Her hips sauntered in an age old dance of seduction and sin. Logan was speechless; his feet nailed firmly to the floorboards.

“You’re looking good Wolverine.” Logan’s mouth hung open. He tried to move his tongue to say something but he could not. Rogue came towards him slowly, her breasts jostling slightly with each step. The blood drained from Logan’s face to enter a much lower organ. He was white as a sheet.

“Don’t look so scared. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen each other.” Rogue’s voice held none of the soft Southern drawl Logan was used to hearing in it. Instead it was hard and throaty with clipped words. She stood only inches in front of him and began to run her hands up and down his chest. She fingered the dog tags hanging around his neck. Her fingers interlaced with the metal chain. She jerked on the chain forward, pulling his mouth down so their lips met. She kissed him; her tongue bursting into his mouth, fighting his own. Logan took a step backwards and shoved Rogue three feet away from him.

“Marie! What! What’s?” He was still incapable of full sentences. Rogue, however, would not be so easily deterred. She spun towards him in a blur, using a sophisticated move and sent him sprawling onto the nearby bed. Logan was so taken aback he lay there as she pounced on him. Her hips straddled him and she held down his arms as her tongue took possession of his mouth again. She was licking and sucking his lips with abandon, greedily taking what she wanted from him. She rubbed her lithe body vigorously against him and despite all the warning sirens in Logan’s head his male body responded.

He fought himself to not to give in to the offer before him. He was appalled and breathtakingly turned on all at once. A moment of clarity in the fog of lust broke through when he caught sight of Rogue’s big chocolate brown eyes. They had not her usual mixture of wariness and naivety. Instead they were relentless and driven. But they were still Marie’s eyes and Logan pushed her off of him.

“I don’t know what’s got into you kid, but this…” he couldn’t look at her curvaceous body as he spoke, “it’s wrong.”

“Okay.” Marie froze in place for a second and her hair shook itself out of its plated look behind her head to flow freely around her in long smooth waves. Her eyes became bright and her lips pursed in a small, but knowing smile. “How about this? You always had a thing for Dr. Grey.” Rogue moved across the bed from him and looked him squarely in the eye.

“Logan,” her voice sounded just like Jean’s had. “I was wrong. I’m not in love with Scott. He’s not right for me. He’ll never be right for me. I want the dangerous guy. I want you Logan.” She moved closer to him again, her hand hesitant but affectionate as it reached out to stroke his beard. “I choose you.”

Logan’s breath caught as Rogue played out his personal fantasy in lurid detail. He imagined for a second it was Jean’s lips who were kissing his. Jean’s hands running through his hair and unbuttoning his shirt. Jean’s hands on his bare chest. Jean’s warm and willing body waiting for him to take her. He purred against her as he kissed and licked her neck. Jean tracing circles on his stomach with her manicured finger nails. Jean’s hands found his belt and undid the buckle. When her hands brushed lightly against his straining manhood his mind suddenly shot back to reality and he shuddered away from her.

“Marie! What the fuck is going on here?” His voice was a furious scream but her face registered no shock.

“Well if Jean isn’t to your liking…” she paused again and her hair straightened and fell over her chest as it usually did. Her posture slackened a bit but it only accentuated the full teardrop shape of her breasts. Logan wanted to run from the room and he wanted to grasp the pliable, yielding flesh of her bosom at the same time.

“Logan,” her voice had the lilting Southern syllables again. “I’m so happy to be back. Ah couldn’t wait to see ya again. Ah, ah missed you.” Her cheeks blushed furiously. She whispered shyly, “Ah’ve always had a crush on you Logan. Ah… Ah just think you’re mighty handsome and Ah’ve always hoped one day you’d return ma feelin’s suga. Ah’ve wanted you so bad Logan, for so long. Ah just couldn’t wait any longer. Please, ah know you only think of me as a kid, but if you’ll give me a chance Ah’ll prove to you that Ah can make all your fantasies come true.”

Logan’s head spun. He had often wondered if Marie might have a little teen crush on him. Nothing serious mind you. But when he heard her mention it in so plain terms all the pieces clicked in his head. Some tiny part of Logan that was capable of vanity was proud to know he had sparked her interest. That part of him responded by unconsciously flexing the muscles in his chest and arms to show them off to his best advantage. He preened before her and let out a growl so small it was more of a purr of satisfaction.

He put his hands on Marie’s shoulders and brought her to him. Logan wasted no time claiming his prize kissing her full lips. They felt so small and delicate between his rough ones. He was sure his bristly beard must feel terrible rubbing on her cheeks and he was careful not to brush her with it. He held her tenderly in his strong arms as he massaged the roof of her mouth with his tongue. He moved his head to kiss the tender flesh of neck and the hollow of her shoulders. Only when he caught sight of her bared breasts did he remember how this tryst had started.

He stopped and starred at her, at a loss, what to make of all this and remained frozen in place on the bed. He looked at Rogue, yet not Rogue, before him. She was herself, but not. She reached around to pull him back to her and she hugged him and squeezed him tightly. These were typical Rogue actions. She looked like Rogue and sounded like Rogue again. Why then was his throbbing need only increasing? He had never been attracted to the half-pint kid before.

He bolted from the bed and turned to Rogue his entire body shaking from an emotion he could not identify.

“Stay here. Just stay here.” Logan flew from the room then. He only stopped running when he had reached Storm’s room on the other side of the mansion. He didn’t wait to knock; rather he burst into the room. Beast jolted back from Storm’s open arms. They were fully clothed but had obviously been kissing each other. Logan, however, hardly registered that he was interrupting something.

“You gotta come quick. Get Professor Kojak. It’s Rogue, she’s…” He didn’t know what to say so he just left it at that and turned around running off again, claws extended. Something told Logan a wrinkly old super villain had something to do with this twisted mindfuck.

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Magneto and Logan:

Erik was getting ready for bed when he felt the large mass of metal hurtling towards him. He sent out a low wave magnetic field. Adamantium… With a splintering crash Magneto heard Wolverine chop through the door and fly towards him. Magneto stopped his flight in mid air and pushed Logan back into the wall. Logan’s metal skeleton crashed through the delicate dry wall leaving gaping holes in the wall were his elbows, heels, and head had hit.

Erik cringed when he realized that if he was to maintain the tentative cease-fire between the X-Men and the Brotherhood that he would have to deal fairly with the Wolverine and politely pay for the wall he had slammed him into. (First item on Magneto’s bill). The Wolverine was growling and foaming at the mouth as he fought to break free of Magneto’s magnetic fields. But Magneto’s powers had returned to where any battle between the two mutants had only one outcome.

“Is there any good reason you attacked me or is this how you treat all your guests?” Erik asked after a few moments.

“What the fuck did you do to Rogue?” Logan hurled at him incessant and forceful.

“Nothing.” Erik’s breath caught in his throat. “Is Marie alright?”

“No. You must have done something to her. She’s lost her mind.” Erik forgot all about the Wolverine and ran out the door of his room in his bathrobe and slippers. He rushed towards Marie’s room panic causing his heart to pound relentlessly in his chest. He dreaded what he would find.

The door to her room was open and Storm was holding Rogue down, a towel wrapped around her otherwise nude form. Rogue was thrashing about in Storm’s arms and making acrobatic moves she would have been incapable of had her mind been her own. Erik recognized that she was Mystique instantly by the fire that burned behind her eyes.

“Erik get her off me.” Rogue said in Mystique’s voice. Erik’s knees weakened as he watched his Marie fall victim to another one of the personalities in her head. He couldn’t stand to see her suffer like this. Logan chose that moment to enter the room and Magneto turned to him.

“Get Professor Kojak. Hurry.” When Logan didn’t move, instead watching Marie struggle recklessly in Storm’s arms, Magneto pushed him out the door with a wave of his magnetic fields.

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Everyone:

Professor Kojak stayed with Rogue for an hour. First settling her consciousness and then clearing some of Mystique’s memories from her head. It was hard work for Jeri and she worried it would take over a week to clear Rogue’s head of all her absorbed memories. It could take months after that to develop a way for Rogue to do so herself.

As Kojak worked with Rogue, the X-Men blamed Magneto for Rogue’s lapse. The incident had attracted unwanted attention and mutants lingered in the hallways listening to Logan, Storm, and Beast grill Magneto.

“What happened Logan?” Storm asked when things had settled down. Logan was not settled however. He seethed with anger at Magneto and stalked petulantly about the room his eyes never leaving Marie’s prone form on the bed.

“I came to see Rogue and when I walked in the room she was naked,” he paused and twitched as he remembered, “and she wasn’t her self. She was all over me… pretending to be Jean and later herself. She acted just like…” then it dawned on him. “Just like Mystique did at Alkali Lake.”

“What’s the meaning of this Magneto?” Storm was quick to accuse him.

“I told you Rogue’s head is overflowing with the memories she has absorbed through her mutation. We brought her here so that Professor Kojak might help her to clear her mind.” Erik’s voice was a bit strained but it had its usual commanding cadence again.

“She wasn’t like this before. What’d ya do to her?” Logan asked.

“Nothing. This is one of the unfortunate side effects of her powers.”

“Bull shit.” Logan said, his claws extending as he spoke. The Beast tensed up prepared to stop Logan from doing something stupid if he had to. Logan’s tone broke Erik’s composure.

“You think I want to see her like this?” He snapped at the Wolverine. Erik turned away from the group, unable to look at them as he remembered what had happened at breakfast only yesterday. And now Rogue had endured a far worse episode parading about as Mystique. Erik would do anything to spare her more suffering. He would even attempt to get along with the Wolverine. He took several calming breaths. “I want to help her as much as you do. That’s why I brought her here. I would not have presumed upon your meager hospitality if I did not care about her welfare.”

“What’s happening to her?” Beast asked.

“There are so many memories in her brain that sometimes they invade her conscious thoughts and she believes she is the individual whose memory is replaying in her head. In this case she thought she was Mystique. She has believed herself to be me once. And on numerous occasions she has thought herself the Wolverine.” That acquiesced Logan’s anger somewhat with guilt. He hated to think of his Marie having to relive so many lives, particularly his own.

“Why doesn’t her mutation take effect?” Beast asked noticing no one had been hurt from touching Rogue’s very unclothed skin. Professor Kojak fielded that question from her place at Rogue’s side.

“Her mutation is located in the conscious part of her brain. When the memories flood her conscious, they override the mutations ability to function and suppress it for the duration of her episode.

“Is she- Is she gonna be alright?” Logan asked, standing over Rogue’s unconscious form on the bed.

“If Professor Kojak works with her. She should be herself again in a few minutes. She’ll have no memory of what just happened. It would be better if you didn’t mention it to her.” Erik said, hoping Logan would spare Rogue the shame of her latest lapse.

Logan had no problem not telling Rogue. He was deeply ashamed of how much he had responded to her advances. He only wished he could forget the episode himself. But the image of a naked Marie seducing him replayed in his mind over and over again. His relationship with her could never be the same.

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Rogue:

Marie’s room was just as she had left it the day she stormed out of the mansion to find Magneto. Only her old roommate Jubilee was gone, having moved into Kitty’s room after Rogue’s departure. Nothing else had been moved. The only thing she could tell was missing was the bottle of Maker’s Mark Bourbon she had left out in the open on top of her dresser. She was happy they had removed that or she might have been tempted to take a sip or two.

All Rogue’s stuff was just the way it had been and so were her problems with Bobby and Kitty. They hadn’t changed. She still had a birthday card Bobby had given her pinned up on her photo board. It hung there faded from the sun just as she’d left it over six months ago. She took it down and read through it again, maybe for the hundredth time. She told herself to throw it out, but she couldn’t bring herself to.

She wasn’t still pinning after Bobby; she cared for Erik now. But she had dated Bobby for over two years and they had been close friends before that. Those feelings can’t just die out over night. She wished with all her heart they could. She hated the way it pained her to find an old picture of them together, smiling brightly at the camera. If she remembered correctly Kitty had taken that picture.

Erik had done much to heal the wound Bobby had struck to her heart. Rogue could not thank him enough for how much he had helped her. He had repaired parts of her soul that Bobby and Kitty’s betrayal had torn asunder. But not all of her broken heart could be healed by him. There were still issues she had to work out on her own.

She had yet to apologize to Bobby and Kitty. She wasn’t quite sure if she owed them an apology or vice-versa but she knew she would have to talk to them eventually. Their interactions in the mansion were awkward with a capital A. Bobby’s animosity was so palpable not only could you cut it with a knife, you could slice it up, take it home in a doggie bag and have it for lunch the next day.

She’d had enough of his stares and it was only the second day back at the mansion. Bobby gave her nothing but mean, hurtful glares whenever they were trapped in the same room. (Strangely, while Bobby was starring at her Logan had avoided making eye contact all day.) It made Rogue feel even more self-conscious of how badly things had become between them. His cold eyes and frosty demeanor made her burn with unspoken guilt and wounded pride. She hated the way he acted as though she was at fault. She hated that he made her feel uncomfortable in what had once been her home. She hated the way he could still make her hurt after so long. It gave Bobby power over her that he could still affect her with just a look. And Rogue hated that most of all.

Kitty, on the other hand, was so timid she would shrink back anytime she saw Rogue. Sometimes she would shrink back against the wall so fast she would phase right through it. Rogue felt as though Magneto had placed a magnetic field around her and it repelled Kitty away from her. Bobby might have called her a ‘traitor’ but Kitty’s passive-aggression hurt worse. It had been a long time since Rogue had a close girl friend to talk to. There was a hole in Marie that Kitty, her ex-best friend, had once filled. And that hole ached with emptiness when Kitty fled from her presence.

It was inevitable that Rogue would eventually run into Kitty or Bobby and be unable to avoid the necessary conversation that stood between them. Her run in with Bobby came far too early for Rogue. It was around two in the afternoon when she was taking a quick break from working with Professor Kojak. She had walked out into the hallway, intent on getting something to drink from the kitchen when she saw Bobby’s pretty boy face appear far down the corridor.

She couldn’t very well dart into a room or run the other way down the hallway. How would that have looked? If only she was Kitty and she could have melted through the floor to get away from him. But if she was Kitty, she wouldn’t need to run away; she would be his girlfriend. Her breath caught in her throat and Rogue squeezed her eyes shut a few times, stilling tears from forming in them. Bobby walked slower as he came closer. Rogue’s steps had slowed till they were nearly imperceptible as movement. They looked at each other and for a second Rogue thought there might be hope they could settle things between them.

“Bobby.” Her voice was wary but hopeful. It was stronger than she had assumed it would be.

“Rogue.” He stressed the first syllable, saying the “Ro” in a way that made it sound like a curse. And to Marie, the problems of being the mutant known as Rogue were.

Neither knew what to say next and both stood there awkwardly shifting in place. Rogue pulled on the fingers of an imaginary glove covering her hand. She would never have to wear her gloves again, but old habits die hard.

“I’m sorry ah said what ah did when ah left.” That was easy enough to say and Rogue was happy to get it over with. Bobby just looked at her for one moment, his hands at his side in ice cold fists. Rogue’s departure was not a pleasant memory to him.

“You should be.” Rogue pretended the tone of Bobby’s voice wasn’t as cruel as it felt to her.

“Ah was upset over how you treated me. Ah spoke without thinking.” Rogue tried to keep from crossing her arms in front of him. She didn’t want to seem hostile. She wanted this to be worked out between them.

“Without thinking?” He let out a snort. “You lost it, kissed Magneto, and went off to join the Brotherhood. You went crazy or something. But I hear you’re even more unstable now.” Rogue pulled back as though she had been struck by him. Of all the sensitive spots to kick her when she was down… he had to question her understandably questionable sanity.

“Bobby,” She wanted to run from him. She wished she’d never attempted to talk to him. “You really hurt me when you- when you cheated on me with Kitty. Maybe our relationship never meant much to you, but it meant a lot,” She repeated herself for emphasis. “A lot to me.”

“You knew things weren’t going well Marie. I had been thinking about breaking up with you for a few months before that, but what with you going through all your problems with the Cure… I didn’t want to spring it on you then. Kitty and I just happened.” Rogue knew she should be forgiving; she should try to be understanding but his words didn’t help sooth her. It made her feel worse to know he had wanted to end their relationship and he had never even had the guts to just tell her. If he was really trying to save her the pain while she dealt with the Cure then he wouldn’t have stuck his tongue down Kitty’s throat.

Rogue wanted to lose her temper at him. She wanted to yell and throw a fit but the fight was gone in her. She felt tired; exhausted from all the pain he had caused her.

“Ah know things will never be the same between us. Ah know you’re happy with Kitty now and I’ve found someone too.” She thought of Erik, not wanting to sully his name by mentioning it in this pitiful conversation.

“I’m not dating Kitty anymore. I’m seeing Jubilee now.” That was news to Rogue. She looked at Iceman as though he suddenly burst into flames.

“Either way Ah want us to be friends or at least be able to live in the same house without bein’ so, so well… like this.” He turned cold again and Rogue felt the air chill around her.

“Rogue you’re one of them now. You’re in the Brotherhood. You’re a traitor to the Professor’s memory and a traitor to us.”

“Bobby it’s not what you think it is.”

“No, Rogue it is. I can’t be friends with you.”

“Why not?”

“Maybe it’s just too much to ask.” He turned and left. He stopped when he had got halfway down the hall and called back. “And keep that psychopath Magneto away from me.”

Rogue refused to cry, walking back into the Professor’s office hoping Jeri’s presence would keep her from braking down. Rogue tried to act like nothing had happened but Kojak read her thought waves like there was a neon sign glowing on her forehead.

“Do you want to talk about it?” She asked Rogue. Rogue had just shaken her head in reply. She sat down in the chair across from the tall woman and feeling so light-headed she felt she weighed no more than a pound.

“I could erase all your memories of him.” Professor Kojak offered softly. Rogue declined however. As awful as Bobby had hurt her and as much as her memories pained her, she knew that it was important to remember the bad moments of life, so one can fully enjoy the good ones. It is the sum of your memories that make up who you are. And Rogue knew she wanted to be in full control of her memories and her mutation. Anything short of that was unacceptable to her.

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Everyone:

“Pyro you burned the beef stew. How could you burn something that’s made in a crock pot?” Catalyst said her big green eyes irate and frustrated. She was helping Pyro clean up the disaster he made in the kitchen while trying to cook dinner for everyone at the mansion. She berated herself for ever letting him try. Obviously she was pretty out of it if she had let him near the kitchen.

“It was cooking too slowly. So I kicked things up a notch.” Pyro said, attempting to clean out the burnt on grease and fat on the crock pot. It had once had a quaint pattern of ducks on the outside. The whole thing was a nice brown-black color now that the enamel coating had melted off. (Another item added to Magneto’s bill).

“It’s a crock pot you idiot. It cooks things slowly. Oh, dear god…” Catalyst said hitting the palm of her hand against her forehead. Would Pyro never learn?

Pyro had ruined the beef stew when he had flamed both it and the countertop. (Another item added to Magneto’s bill.) They had had to order Chinese. Utter chaos ensued when 32 people were calling out a rash of numbers for different Chinese food dishes. Someone confused which restaurant they were ordering from and called out number 29 (cashew chicken) when they really meant number 41 (sweet and sour pork). Several orders were mismatched. Storm had to recall the restaurant and correct their order. An hour and $246 dollars later the Brotherhood of Mutants and the X-Men sat down to a meal together in front of the TV in the common room.

White Chinese food cartons changed hands in a flurry as everyone got settled. The younger mutants were delegated to the floors surrounding the couches. Bobby, Kitty, and Jubilee kept to themselves on one couch hogging all the spring rolls. Beast and Storm cuddled together on the loveseat sharing a quart of low mein. Catalyst and Professor Kojak sat together. Pyro and Mystique took the arm chairs. Juggarnaut sat on the other loveseat all by himself, no one wanting to disturb the eight orders of Chinese food he had arranged around him. That left Rogue sitting on the long couch with Magneto on her right and Logan on her left, all three sharing General Tzo’s chicken.

Magneto had claimed the remote control using his magnetism and seemed loathe to give it up. He stared down anyone who suggested he change the channel. Storm was the leader of the X-Men and she was the first to speak up.

“I think we should all watch the Weather Channel. They have a brand new episode of ‘Storm Stories’ on now.” That was met with a general boo. Bobby spoke then.

“I think they’re showing ice skating on ESPN.” Pyro jerked up from his armchair, spilling his can of soda on the carpet. (Another item added to Magneto’s bill).

“Oh, no! We are not watching anything to do with ice. Let’s watch Fear Factor.” Jubilee let out a loud vomiting sound.

“We’re trying to eat here, Pyro. I think we should watch Fashion Police on E!” No one liked Jubilee’s idea. Kitty didn’t have the guts to speak up. She was meek and quiet and chewed on her spring roll. So Juggarnaut spoke with a piece of shrimp hanging from his mouth.

“We have to watch RAW Wrestling. It’s on HBO.”

“We don’t get HBO,” Storm said.

“What! What kind of bloody mansion is this if there’s no HBO?” Juggarnaut lumbered up, rising from the couch and in the process spilling the eight Chinese food cartons all over it. Soy sauce and horse radish sauce landed everywhere. (Another item added to Magneto’s bill).

“Oh shut up you ingrate.” And Magneto used his magnetism to shove a spoon in Juggernaut’s mouth. That shut him up. Mystique, feeling more confident Erik would accept her request, went next.

“I agree,” said Catalyst. Logan finally spoke up when he realized no one else had the guts to make any other recommendations.

“I say we watch some hockey. You like hockey, right Rogue?” He put his arm around Rogue. Magneto shot daggers at him with his steel gray eyes. Marie didn’t hate hockey, but truthfully she’d watched it for years just to be near Logan.

“Actually Logan, I’d like to watch Smallville.”

“Perhaps another time my dear.” Erik said and rubbed her thigh affectionately. Logan noticed and his eyes narrowed to slits while his nostrils flared. Beast, sitting next to Storm, went next.

“I suggest we watch something educational for the kids. Like Animal Plant.”

“I know something educational to watch.” Magneto said. Everyone knew he would get his way in the end. It wasn’t smart to piss off a mutant super villain while he was eating Chinese food. Besides everyone was too full from eating all the Chinese to really argue anyway. Magneto flipped to NBC channel 4 and it showed the Nightly News with Brian Williams coming on.

“We’re going to watch the news and afterward we are all watching the History Channel’s Modern Marvels whether you like it or not.” The doors to the common room slammed shut with such force one of Storm’s African tribal drums fell off the wall and broke apart. (Another item added to Magneto’s bill). Erik leaned into Marie on the couch and she cuddled up against him instinctively. Logan waited till Magneto was distracted watching the news before he reached across Magneto and Rogue to get the Wonton soup spilling some on Magneto’s lap “accidentally”. (Another item added to Magneto’s bill. His dry cleaning bill, duh).

Brian Williams perfectly tanned and immaculately dressed figure came on the screen.

“Our lead story tonight is some video footage released by the Department of Homeland Security recorded by the mutant terrorist Magneto. As you know, Magneto is the alleged leader of the strongest mutant liberation army, The Brotherhood of Mutants, and his whereabouts remain unknown. The FBI urges anyone who has seen this man or who knows any information about the Brotherhood to contact their local authorities.” The clip aired and the aristocratic Magneto appeared on screen before them.

“My Brothers, hear me now, in this our time of strife. We did not ask for this war, but it has arrived. We wanted only to coexist with humans; to live amongst each other in freedom and prosperity. But that was not to be. Human hate mongers drove the country over the limits into war and any chance of peaceful cohabitation has become impossible.” Magnetos image left the screen for a moment as images of anti-mutant groups and sound clips of anti-mutant sentiments played out.

“Humans no longer want us to exist. To that end they attempted to force the Cure on us and failed through our united efforts to resist. But humans did not stop there. They massacre us in our homes, slaughter us openly on the streets, and deny us our rights as Americans. We are treated worse than second class citizens by the Anti-Mutant Registration Act. We are treated as criminals. I say if they think of us as criminals, why not be criminals?”

“The time to sit idly by and watch genocide be committed against your fellow mutants is over. I urge those mutants who are watching this in their homes to take action. Perhaps you have escaped detection and are able to live in society as though you were human. I want all of you to ask yourself, in this country, a country that is threatening to lock all mutants away in detention camps, the country you want your children to grow up? Is this the way you want them to live? In hiding, denying who they are?”

“You should be proud to be a mutant. You should be able to live freely and without fear. We are homo superior. We are the next step in evolution. Over forty thousand years ago superior Cro Magnons took control of the planet from inferior Neanderthals. It is our destiny to inherent the Earth.”

“I want to extend an open invitation to all mutants everywhere to join the Brotherhood and take a stand against our inferior human adversaries.”

When Magneto’s speech finished, Brian Williams returned to the screen and continued speaking but no one in the mansions common room heard it. The Brotherhood stood up and began clapping. Many of the younger mutants joined in, clapping and shouting that they wanted to join the Brotherhood. Storm did not seem as pleased to hear Magneto’s elegant speech.

“I hope you didn’t send that in from the mansion.”

“It was sent a month and a half ago. It takes a while for my videos to clear Homeland Security and get released to the press.”

“I did the lighting.” Rogue popped up, cheerily taking credit for her help with the video.

“You look good Magneto. Less wrinkly than in person.” Logan said. Catalyst sat up straight on her couch, displaying her bombshell figure and gave Logan a haughty look.

“Erik always looks sexy. I just wish he could have worn his red shirt.” Jeri said.

“I do have to wash it sometimes, Jeri.” Erik said to her.

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Notes: So yes all the TV shows would not be on around dinner time and wrestling probably isn’t shown on HBO. But it’s just an approximation. I wanted to make the scene as funny as possible.

If you have forgotten Catalyst is the character symbolizing your beautiful author and Professor Kojak is her friend. So we would both love Erik.

If you’ve already left a review and want to leave a new review of the updated chapter just review an old chapter you might have skipped reviewing. What do you think of the confrontation between Bobby and Rogue?

All my Bobby and Rogue interactions and relationship issues are adapted from real life situations between myself and someone I will call only T.M. You might remember him from the dedication in Chapter 18. So why is Rogue apologizing to Bobby and not the other way around? Try being broken up with. Somehow you’ll find you are the one doing the apology. All’s fair in love, and there’s an unfortunate practice in our culture where if you aren’t married, you really have no recourse when someone cheats on you. Because of that the person who was cheated and rankly used by their partner, although the wronged party, is supposed to just move on and get over it. Rogue didn’t and she feels at fault for the tension between them.

Preview: Be prepared. You think this chapter featured a mindfuck for Logan. Just wait till you read the next chapter. It is going to be incredible. I know because I have half of it written already. Oh, and Magneto’s bill for damage to the mansion continues to grow exorbitantly.